finish and finnish are homophones: they are pronounced identically and spelled differently, which is why they are so often swapped. finish means “a decorative texture or appearance of a surface (or the substance that gives it that appearance)”. finnish means “the official language of Finland; belongs to the Baltic Finnic family of languages”. finish is the more common of the two in everyday English.
/ˈfɪnɪʃ/
1.n.a decorative texture or appearance of a surface (or the substance that gives it that appearance)
“the boat had a metallic finish”
2.n.the temporal end; the concluding time
“the stopping point of each round was signaled by a bell”
3.n.a highly developed state of perfection; having a flawless or impeccable quality
“they performed with great polish”
| finish | finnish | |
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /ˈfɪnɪʃ/ | /ˈfɪnɪʃ/ |
| Said | FIN-ish | FIN-ish |
| Syllables | 2 | 2 |
| Letters | 6 | 7 |
| Parts of speech | noun, verb | noun, adjective |
| Senses | 15 | 2 |
| How common | Core | Familiar |
| Synonyms | coating, finishing | Suomi |
Full entry for finish · Full entry for finnish · More comparisons
/ˈfɪnɪʃ/
1.n.the official language of Finland; belongs to the Baltic Finnic family of languages
2.adj.of or relating to or characteristic of Finland or the people of Finland
“Finnish architecture”